Many types of paintball guns exist which propel paintballs by the release of compressed gas. More particularly, many styles of semiautomatic or full automatic paintball guns are available which automatically cycle after firing in order to quickly reload a paintball and thus prepare the gun to fire again. Most of the common paintball gun types utilize an external storage container, referred to as a hopper, to hold paintballs to be fed to the gun. From the hopper, paintballs travel via way of a paintball feed tube to a loading chamber configured for holding a paintball to be loaded. A loading port defines an aperture into the breach. The breach receives the paintball to be fired. A slidably translatable bolt opens the loading port for paintball loading, then pushes the paintball from the breech to the firing chamber.
In a paintball gun, the bolt is only one part of a bolt assembly that includes the bolt and the various gun elements that move with the bolt. Gun elements that make up the bolt assembly in a particular gun often include a piston that is induced to move in response to the urging of compressed gas as the gun cycles, and a connecting rod or other mechanical link that causes the bolt to move in response to the movement of the piston. The piston is typically located inside the gun frame, or in a cylinder mounted externally on the gun frame. However, the bolt assembly can include gun elements that move in a direction different from the bolt, or at a rate different than the bolt, but that cause movement of the bolt, or may otherwise be responsive to or connected with movement of the bolt.
In most paintball guns, the bolt itself is slidably translatable between a forward “bolt-closed” position and a rearward “bolt-open” position within a bolt chamber that extends longitudinally within the gun frame. Within the bolt chamber, a breech receives the loaded paintball that is to be fired. Adjacent the breech is a loading chamber, which is the location where the next paintball to be loaded into the breech resides until it is loaded through the loading port and into the breech. The loading chamber is commonly located immediately above the breech if the paintballs move downward, such as under the urging of gravity. However, the loading chamber may be located beside or below the breech if a suitable loader mechanism is provided for pushing paintballs toward the breech.
An opening through the wall of the bolt chamber defines a loading port through which a paintball passes as it moves from the loading chamber into the breech. When the bolt is in the forward position, the bolt closes the loading port. When the bolt is in the rearward position, the loading port is open and the next paintball to be fired can move from the loading chamber, through the loading port, and into the breech. Movement of the bolt from the rearward position to the forward position serves to move the paintball forward from the breech to the firing chamber. The firing chamber is the location where the paintball resides when, as the gun is fired, compressed gas impinges on the paintball to propel it forward out of the gun.
Paintball guns which may most benefit from use of the present invention are either of a semiautomatic type or of a full automatic type. In either case, when the gun is fired it automatically cycles, reloading and recocking the gun. Thus, when the gun is fired, it cycles until returning to a state in which it is ready to fire again.
In general, paintball guns can be classified as either “open-bolt” or “closed-bolt”, depending on the whether loading port is open, or is closed by the bolt, when the gun is ready to fire. When an open-bolt gun is ready to be fired, the bolt is in the rearward position so the loading port is open. The paintball to be fired is in the breech. The next paintball to load is prevented from moving into the breech by the paintball already in the breech, rather than by the bolt. When an open-bolt gun is fired, the bolt moves forward, closing the loading port and moving the paintball forward from the breech and into the firing chamber. After the bolt closes the loading port, compressed gas is released to propel the paintball forward from the gun. The bolt then returns back to the rearward position, opening the loading port to allow a new projectile to enter into the breech from the loading chamber. Thus it can be seen that when an open-bolt gun is fired, the gun cycles with the bolt first moving forward and then moving rearward.
When a closed-bolt paintball gun is ready to be fired, the bolt is already in the forward position, and the loading port is already closed. The paintball to be fired is already in the firing chamber forward of the bolt. When the gun is fired, compressed gas is released to impinge on the paintball in the firing chamber and propel it from the gun.
As this happens, or shortly thereafter, the bolt moves toward the rearward position and opens the loading port so that a new paintball can move from the loading chamber, through the loading port, and into the breech. Then the bolt moves forward, closing the loading port and moving the newly loaded paintball from the breech into the firing chamber. At that time, the gun is ready to be fired again. Thus it can be seen that when a closed-bolt gun is fired, the gun cycles with the bolt first moving rearward and then moving forward.
In closed-bolt guns, one way to decrease cycle times would be to shorten the period of time that the bolt stays rearward to keep the loading port open. However, a new paintball can move from the loading chamber, through the loading port, and into the breech only during the period of time the bolt is rearward. If the bolt returns forward too soon, it may catch a partially loaded paintball against the edge of the loading port, jamming the gun and potentially breaking the paintball.
Thus, it can be seen that a need still exists for a loader which could operate in close synchronization with the movement of the bolt in a closed-bolt gun, in order to urge a paintball from the loading chamber into the breech in a manner that would minimize the time that the loading port need be open.
And, occasionally a paintball to be loaded does not move far enough into the loading chamber that it is in a proper position to be pushed through the loading port, yet it is sufficiently into the loading chamber that it may be contacted by a loader and thus jammed against some part, such as the gun frame or feed tube, as the loader urges it toward the breech. When such a situation occurs, it would be advantageous to provide a loader that would urge the paintball toward the breech with a force sufficiently limited so that the paintball would not be damaged or broken.
Thus, a new paintball loader for closed-bolt paintball guns which provides the desirable features of (A) urging a paintball to move from the loading chamber and into the breech in response to and in close synchronization with the movement of the bolt assembly, and of (B) urging the paintball to move rapidly but with an urging force that is not so great as to damage a paintball that is not yet quite in position to move through the loading port, can be readily appreciated.
The foregoing figures, being merely exemplary, contain various elements that may be present or omitted from actual implementations or final configurations depending upon the circumstances. An attempt has been made to draw the figures in a way that illustrates at least those elements that are significant for an understanding of the various embodiments and aspects of the invention. However, various other elements of the paintball loader described herein, especially as applied for different structural configurations and functional components of the many paintball guns, may be utilized in order to provide a rapid and reliable paintball loader, and still be within the overall teachings of the present invention, and the legal equivalents thereof.